Web 2.0, “this culture of use involves several features, principally that users create content as well as read it; and that access to and participation in this endeavour is part of a conversational approach to information circulation, involving online sharing within friendship groups”. (Allen, 2013, p. 262). Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services and Web applications.

WordPress was originally designed for Blogging where users can post comments and interact with the website.

Some of the different kinds of Blogs are personal, technical or business. WordPress has developed into a “fully fledged content management system (CMS)” (McCollin, 2013, p. 7). The WordPress platform has an administrator back-end and users can be given access to certain areas through a permissions system. Additional features called plugins can be added to allow extra functionally of the website such as emailing capabilities.

“The Theme is what your visitors see, it is the skin for your content, the GUI and design of your Web site” (Hedengren, 2011, p. 25). Different themes can be used to make the website appealing and different theme structures can be used for an arrange of styled websites.

Themes can be purchased as different companies or WordPress theme developers create these for your convenience. You can also create these themes yourself. you can create “child themes—a powerful way to customise existing WordPress themes while keeping the original code intact” (Leary, 2013, p. 125).

One of the advantages of using WordPress is it has cross-browser compatibility as the developers of WordPress have already built this in for you. Themes come with plugins that allow compatibility with mobile devices for smart phones and tablets. Development time can be shortened with the use of WordPress and content is stored in a database called MySQL.

Another web 2.0 technology is social media. Social media is a great way of communicating across different age groups and nationalities. Due to the nature of social media it is able to be used in the workplace very efficiently and effectively (American Society for Training & Development, & Books24x7, 2010). Productivity in the workplace is better as the tools provided by social media allows this. Communication is greatly enhanced with social media and “social media is not just a learning tool, but also a productivity tool” (American Society for Training & Development 2010). A business can gain insight into the employees and have a better understanding of them. People can be trained on this technology which allows them to use other similar technologies more effectively. As these employees learn social media their productively will increase. Social media has an unique sharing capability which allows employees to share ideas and information (American Society for Training & Development 2010). From a business perspective this communication is cheaper and can reach people who are on the internet.

Technology is becoming more economical and accessible to many people. Robotics has made breaking ground changes and can help in the nursing home arena. Software technologies have been able to allows users to easily navigate and control their online documents and designs.

Web 2.0 technologies have become more personal where the user can see themselves, it is all about the user. The sweetest thing to the ear is someone’s name and therefore a photo of yourself is gratifying. With social media you can build an avatar of yourself and have a photo of yourself and communicate in the workplace efficiently and effectively. International people can communicate at a more cost effective rate.

References:

Allen, M. (2013). What was web 2.0? versions as the dominant mode of internet history. New Media & Society,15(2), 260-275.